This week, join the Anarchist Studies Network for the ASN 2022 Conference! This is a virtual conference. For more information regarding registration and a lineup for all speakers and workshops, click here.
Wednesday, August 24, 2022
6:45am – 8:15am (GMT+1)
Anarchist Utopianism
Panelists: John Clark, Laurence Davis, Vandana Singh and Margaret Killjoy
What roles do art and literature play in envisioning anarchist futures? In this panel we explore the rich but still relatively neglected phenomenon of anarchist utopianism, especially but not exclusively in its literary forms. Unusually for a panel at an Anarchist Studies Network conference, the aim of this session is to bring together in dialogue both scholars of the anarchist utopian tradition with specialist expertise on its history and theory, and writers of contemporary speculative fiction who have engaged in original ways with anarchist or anarchistic forms of utopianism. More substantively, we aim to elucidate the distinctive ideological features of anarchist utopianism, its historical and contemporary political significance, and the imaginative challenges and affordances of crafting anarchist literary utopias in a 21st-century context. Eschewing simplistic and reductive readings of literary utopias as fixed blueprints for an ideologically defined future, we will pay particular attention to the ways in which anarchist literary utopias engage the reader in a complex dialogue about what is, what might be, and the relationship between the two, inviting us to participate in a time-sensitive journey of the utopian imagination complete with fundamental moral conflict, meaningful choice and continuing change, by the end of which we may return to the non-fictional present with a broader perspective on its latent emancipatory possibilities. Consistent with this emphasis on the importance of critical dialogue, we also hope to leave plenty of time for comments and questions, whether academic or otherwise!
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Thursday, August 25, 2022
6:45am – 8:15am (GMT+1)
Nuts and Bolts of the Future Society
Panelists:
Thomas Pewton – A Future Food System
Robin Hahnel, Jason Chrysostomou & Anders Sandstrom – A Participatory Economy: a vision for an anarchist economy
Bernardo De Urquidi Gonzalez – Democracy by Average – a new horizontal decision making process
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Thursday, August 25, 2022
8:30am – 10:00am (GMT+1)
‘Go Forth and Multiply’
Panelist:
Carla Bergman – Trust Kids: Autonomy Begins at Home
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The Anarchist Studies Network
The Anarchist Studies Network is a support network for people working on, or incorporating in their work, the field of anarchism in its many forms. We encourage the study of anarchism within academia by building links between scholars across subject areas, as well as groups located outside the official sphere of academia, including those formed for activism and public intellectual life. We support people in collaborating and create an inclusive space to share ideas, thoughts, and research. We also aim to foster an interdisciplinary dialogue between anarchists and other scholars.
ASN hosts a variety of events and activities. The biennial Anarchist Studies Network conference is our flagship event which attracts people from all over the world. The conference is a focal point for many scholars to share new research, present ideas or simply meet like-minded people in convivial settings. The conference actively supports early-career or underfunded participants with grants and is committed to working on inclusion and dismantling structures of power within the space. We also organise smaller workshops and research activities lead by our members, notably through the PSA’s annual conferences. Our members actively contribute to an informal blog for more accessible anarchist writings and share knowledge and best practice through online discussions.